The invention relates generally to the handling of product exiting a device such as a cyclone separator, and more specifically to a cyclone separator having a sealed valve connected to the bottom outlet of the cyclone separator.
It is generally known to utilize a cyclone separator to handle fibrous or other compressible products. The commonly known cyclone separator has an inlet, a top outlet and a bottom outlet. A product is air conveyed to the cyclone separator via the inlet where it is centrifugally separated from the conveying air so that the solid product exits at the bottom outlet while the air exits from the top outlet. Product exiting via the bottom outlet is received in a baler or other receiving receptacle.
If air is allowed to escape through the bottom outlet with the product, some of the air/product mixture may not flow into the receiving receptacle. Typically, the result is that material escapes from the system in the form of dust and debris that can create environmental or health risks. Prior attempts to solve this problem provided a sealed baler at the bottom outlet of the cyclone separator to prevent the air from escaping. However, these balers are very expensive because of the close tolerances required to seal the interfaces between the moving parts and because of the constant maintenance which naturally follows from these close tolerances.